Relation to Freedom Writers:
Ms. G gave us the secret sauce to her classroom and the two ingredients that appealed to me or applied to me the best were #5 Motivate your Students and #9 Create Community. The ones I was least certain about were #7 Teach Tolerance and #11 Expect Accountability. The diary entry for #5 was about a kid reading a book about feuding gangs and he remembered two gang leaders who decided to play Russian Roulette in his neighborhood, decided to make up and take one last turn which happened to end with the death of one: this memory motivated him to read the book by helping him make personal connections. In #9 we read the epilogue of the Freedom Diaries where Ms. G talks about creating a community of students where everyone is tolerant of each other and work together to change the world. I read #7 about a girl whose father had always told her that Whites, Blacks and Asians were to be avoided and prejudiced against, but during the Freedom Writers' trip to New York she gets put in a room with three girls of those exact races and it turns how to be an experience she does not forget that taught her to tolerate others and ensure her father's discrimination does not go any further in her family. Lastly, I read #11 in which the student discusses giving himself an F on a self evaluation and Ms. G gives him a piece of her mind at never giving up and being accountable for your work; the student was shocked and started taking ownership for his work.
My Classroom:
Walk into my classroom and the first thing that will catch your eye is the desks arranged in clusters of three or four desks arranged around my technology "center" including overhead, smart board and/or computer carts. My reasoning behind this being that students will have a giant opportunity to create community every day in class and as they talk more will begin to tolerate and respect each other like with the diary entry above. The walls will be covered in student work: students who have the chance to see work done by their peers or receive recognition for their own success experience more intrinsic motivation like with the example from the Freedom Writers above; this also will give them the chance to be accountable for their learning like the student was from the example with Ms. G. I do not believe in the power of the textbook, so although I will have several copies for students who request them, my textbook will be online of the computers where students can easily access it. My classroom will have a station where students can find and bother tools such as compasses, protractors, scissors, rulers or calculators because it is important they have all the resources and tools necessary to allow them success in the work I assign to them; this is addition to the laptops they will always carry with them, and technology that I will place right in the middle of my classroom. The reason I want my technology and resources to be in a mobile addition to the classroom is so that I can take it with me if my classroom moves either to the Library, another classroom or even outside, thus making the new location comfortable to the students and making it my own.
On the wall will also be a sheet explaining our class rules, which I will have the students help to create at the beginning of the school year. When students break the rules, there will also be discipline and "punishments" set up as consequences. I want my students to feel as if they have free speech and right to learn as they want, and providing authentic and timely feedback whether it be discipline or grading is a great first step in the process. In addition, in my desk will be a contact list for the parents so I can keep in constant contact with them at all times and set up meetings when applicable to ensure our goals for the students are focused and congruent. At the back of the room will be extra chairs for parents or teachers or supervisors who come to observe my classroom and see what powerful opportunities are occurring in the classroom: I do invite all parents to visit if they want and see what we do on a daily basis. My classroom will always be a place where students have choice in their learning; one way I plan on ensuring this is by starting off each year with interest surveys and identity inventories. By meeting with each student one-on-one and knowing my students through their interests, I can create experiences for them, and allow them to create their own experiences which will make the discoveries more relevant to them and in a form that they find easy to understand. I will be a facilitator, not an authority, because I want them to understand and see that they can be in control of what they learn and guide their own discoveries.
In my classroom will also be books and resources from other subjects and areas of study as well, because above all else I believe in interdisciplinary education and learning through experience. I want my students to realize that they can use many different methods to show their work: graphs, pictures, peer activities, projects, reflection, journal entries, questions, group work, laptop programs and even testing when applicable. One more important aspect of my classroom would be a comments box on the side of my desk where students can write me a comment, a question or a concern they have about what we are learning that I will read on a daily basis and use to gauge how well students understand the information. I will read relevant "letters" anonymously to the class when I feel that the class will get insight from a certain question or concern. This ties back in with my belief in student choice, because students can tell me what kinds of ideas or suggestions they have to learn and can take them into account and make sure my students get an experience they will remember for years to come, thus becoming lifelong learners and seeing discovery and knowledge in everything around them. The main reason behind the design of my classroom is that it must be an area where I am a co-leader in the classroom with the students, who in turn become leaders in their community and the rest of the school.
Afterword
As I become more cemented in my position at the school and acclimated into the community, I will begin to engage in curriculum development programs and help design new teaching methods through research with my colleagues. I do want to create meaningful partnerships with my colleagues and the community businesses and foundations that can assist in creating learning and curriculum opportunities, but first I have to adapt to my new surroundings before I can try to incorporate change in my community and school. All of this will come in good time.
Ms. G gave us the secret sauce to her classroom and the two ingredients that appealed to me or applied to me the best were #5 Motivate your Students and #9 Create Community. The ones I was least certain about were #7 Teach Tolerance and #11 Expect Accountability. The diary entry for #5 was about a kid reading a book about feuding gangs and he remembered two gang leaders who decided to play Russian Roulette in his neighborhood, decided to make up and take one last turn which happened to end with the death of one: this memory motivated him to read the book by helping him make personal connections. In #9 we read the epilogue of the Freedom Diaries where Ms. G talks about creating a community of students where everyone is tolerant of each other and work together to change the world. I read #7 about a girl whose father had always told her that Whites, Blacks and Asians were to be avoided and prejudiced against, but during the Freedom Writers' trip to New York she gets put in a room with three girls of those exact races and it turns how to be an experience she does not forget that taught her to tolerate others and ensure her father's discrimination does not go any further in her family. Lastly, I read #11 in which the student discusses giving himself an F on a self evaluation and Ms. G gives him a piece of her mind at never giving up and being accountable for your work; the student was shocked and started taking ownership for his work.
My Classroom:
Walk into my classroom and the first thing that will catch your eye is the desks arranged in clusters of three or four desks arranged around my technology "center" including overhead, smart board and/or computer carts. My reasoning behind this being that students will have a giant opportunity to create community every day in class and as they talk more will begin to tolerate and respect each other like with the diary entry above. The walls will be covered in student work: students who have the chance to see work done by their peers or receive recognition for their own success experience more intrinsic motivation like with the example from the Freedom Writers above; this also will give them the chance to be accountable for their learning like the student was from the example with Ms. G. I do not believe in the power of the textbook, so although I will have several copies for students who request them, my textbook will be online of the computers where students can easily access it. My classroom will have a station where students can find and bother tools such as compasses, protractors, scissors, rulers or calculators because it is important they have all the resources and tools necessary to allow them success in the work I assign to them; this is addition to the laptops they will always carry with them, and technology that I will place right in the middle of my classroom. The reason I want my technology and resources to be in a mobile addition to the classroom is so that I can take it with me if my classroom moves either to the Library, another classroom or even outside, thus making the new location comfortable to the students and making it my own.
On the wall will also be a sheet explaining our class rules, which I will have the students help to create at the beginning of the school year. When students break the rules, there will also be discipline and "punishments" set up as consequences. I want my students to feel as if they have free speech and right to learn as they want, and providing authentic and timely feedback whether it be discipline or grading is a great first step in the process. In addition, in my desk will be a contact list for the parents so I can keep in constant contact with them at all times and set up meetings when applicable to ensure our goals for the students are focused and congruent. At the back of the room will be extra chairs for parents or teachers or supervisors who come to observe my classroom and see what powerful opportunities are occurring in the classroom: I do invite all parents to visit if they want and see what we do on a daily basis. My classroom will always be a place where students have choice in their learning; one way I plan on ensuring this is by starting off each year with interest surveys and identity inventories. By meeting with each student one-on-one and knowing my students through their interests, I can create experiences for them, and allow them to create their own experiences which will make the discoveries more relevant to them and in a form that they find easy to understand. I will be a facilitator, not an authority, because I want them to understand and see that they can be in control of what they learn and guide their own discoveries.
In my classroom will also be books and resources from other subjects and areas of study as well, because above all else I believe in interdisciplinary education and learning through experience. I want my students to realize that they can use many different methods to show their work: graphs, pictures, peer activities, projects, reflection, journal entries, questions, group work, laptop programs and even testing when applicable. One more important aspect of my classroom would be a comments box on the side of my desk where students can write me a comment, a question or a concern they have about what we are learning that I will read on a daily basis and use to gauge how well students understand the information. I will read relevant "letters" anonymously to the class when I feel that the class will get insight from a certain question or concern. This ties back in with my belief in student choice, because students can tell me what kinds of ideas or suggestions they have to learn and can take them into account and make sure my students get an experience they will remember for years to come, thus becoming lifelong learners and seeing discovery and knowledge in everything around them. The main reason behind the design of my classroom is that it must be an area where I am a co-leader in the classroom with the students, who in turn become leaders in their community and the rest of the school.
Afterword
As I become more cemented in my position at the school and acclimated into the community, I will begin to engage in curriculum development programs and help design new teaching methods through research with my colleagues. I do want to create meaningful partnerships with my colleagues and the community businesses and foundations that can assist in creating learning and curriculum opportunities, but first I have to adapt to my new surroundings before I can try to incorporate change in my community and school. All of this will come in good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment